Pose and variations

Today I visited the exhibition “Pose and variations” in Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon.
This exhibition shows sculptures by Auguste Rodin and other lesser known sculptors of his time.

My first impression was disappointment at the size of the exhibition. Compared to how widely it is advertised all over town and in every imaginable media, it is really small. All sculptures were presented crammed in one room and lit with extremely strong spotlights.

That said, I enjoyed the theme of the focus on the pose- and the possibility to compare several interpretations of similar poses. Also I am of course in awe before the skill and precision of sculpting anatomically magnificent figures in marble.
The first pose explored was the “Unposed”, the seemingly natural every day pose. The accompanying text panel mentioned the example of children, who are difficult to ask to pose for a longer time, but then this sculpture “Statuette of a child” by Aimee- Jules Dalou looks rather stiff and not at all “unposed” to me.

The feeling of the first Rodin sculpture is then much closer to unposed- “Danaide” from 1893, where the female figure is wrapped on the stone.

Although this is a pose, there is a feeling of such letting go and merging with the support, a feeling of such effortlessness, that feels much closer to the unposed.

The “crouched” pose followed.
Here a series of “ Crouching Flora” by Jean Baptiste Carpeaux that are classically beautiful and perfect:

In comparison, Rodin’s “Caryatid sinking under the weight of her burden” from 1881, with the blocks of rough stone around the figure express so much more- the beauty, the sensual figure are there, but also the heavy burden pressing her down in a piece of unfinished marble.

The standing, or upright figure is a timeless subject.
Apollo by Jean Antoine Houdon is a beautiful classical example.

Auguste Rodins “ Age of Bronze” from 1877 has again more expression and passion, even in this classical pose. There is also something a little lost or undefined in the raised hand that adds a slight element if spontaneity. The sensual expression of the face just brings the whole figure alive so much more intensely than in the sculpture above.

A nice surprise was to find a small sculpture by Edgar Degas, “Woman taken unawares” that has a beautiful spontaneity and narrative.

The rougher, unfinished surface also add an element of aliveness and spontaneity.

“Intertwined” was the pose explored next- and this is what would have come to my mind first when thinking of Rodin’s most famous sculptures.

Here this pose was represented by “Eternal Spring” and “The blessings”- one allegorical and one religious motive expressed with so much passion and dynamism.

“Eternal spring” is shown both as a bronze sculpture and in marble. I found it interesting to note how I found that the marble added an even more sensual feel, an idea of stroking the smooth stone, and then the welcome contrast to the rougher stone left behind the figures.

In comparison, an intertwined pose by Denys Pierre Puech, “ Winged Siren seizing an adolescent”:

Here the direct gaze of the adolescent and his expression are the most captivating. The pose seems too staged to be passionate.

Although I started off by saying that the exhibition was disappointing, it was really interesting to compare Rodin’s sculptures to those of some of his contemporaries.
There is so much sensuality and passion exploding from his figures, such a melting , a seeming effortlessness in how the figures drape around a stone or each other , that transport his work to another level of feelings.
THIS is how I want to paint 🙂

Another lesson to carry forward into the practice of painting is the element if the unfinished. The sculptures with some parts of the stone left more rough add so much tension and story to the piece.

These are a my rough pencil sketches on A5 from the exhibition.

(all images my own photos from the visit)